Method of cleaning hides and skins



Aug. s, 1944. Rf F KNIGHT 2,355,221

METHOD OF CLEANING HIDES AND SKINS Original Filed Nov. 21, 1941 Patented Aug. 8, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Fleming- .l ton, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application November 21, 1941, Serial No. 419,819. Divided and this application AugllS 22, 1942, Serial N0. 455,762

1 Claim. (c1. 69-21) This invention relates to methods of cleaning hides and skins and more particularly to methods for removing dust from the opposed surfaces ofsuch skins. This application is a division of an application in my name on a brushing machine, which has matured as Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,334,714, granted November 23, 1943.

In the use of ordinary brushing machines for the removal of dust from hides and skins, there is a decided tendency for the dust particles to stick to the brushes and to be redeposited upon the skins. This action is substantially independent of the presence or absence of suction `to take away the dust. With this in View, an object of the invention is to devise an improved method of treatmentof skins in accordance with` which the dust may be more thoroughly and quickly removed therefrom at a minimum of expense.

In one aspect, invention will be seen to reside in a method of treating skins or the like in accordance with which the surface of the skin is brushed and blows are simultaneously applied alternately to the opposite faces of a portion of the skin under treatment, thereby to cause a fluttering of the skin which will tend to shake loose the dust. Substantially simultaneously with this treatment, a current of air is directed outwardly through the brush bristles against the surface of the skin which is being treated.

The invention in accordance with these and other aspects will become clear from a consideration of the following description of a machine which may be utilized for carrying out the method. This machine is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plan View of a portion of two brushes in which the brush elements are arranged in double-helical or herringbone rows;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the machine with an end portion of the end of the casing broken away;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a portion of a `brush strip and an adjacent slot, taken along the section line III-III in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken along the line IV-IV in Fig. 1.

Rotary, substantially cylindrical brushes I and I2 are mounted within a casing having curved parts I4 and I6 which are supported upon a frame I8 having rigid legs 20 on the upper end of which and in the casing the shaft 22 of the brush I0 is mounted. In Fig. 2, most of the near end walls I3, I of the casings are broken away.

On its other side the frame is supported upon another pair of legs 23. The shaft 24 of the brush I2 is journaled in swinging arms 26 pivoted on a bearing block 28 onthe frame I8. The casing part I6 which is attached to these arms is arranged for .adjustment toward and away from the casing part I4 by means of one or more screws 30 so that the distance between the two brush axes may be adjustably determined for a purpose which will later appear. The brushes are rotated in opposite directions by chain-andsprocket drives 32 and 34 which are maintained in fixed relation by a pair of gears` 36 to which power is delivered from any suitable source (not shown) by means of a chain 38.V A suction outlet 40 at the bottom of the casing parts and supported by the frame IB' may beY connected to a suction fan if it is desired to accelerate the removal of the dust.

In presenting work such as a skin S to the machine, one edge is held in the operators hand 43 and the other edge is introduced'in the entrance opening provided between two rounded edges 44 of the opposite casings .and is drawn in to the machine between the downwardly moving surfaces of the oppositely rotating brushes. The operator then pulls the skin against the action of the brushes and draws it out of the machine. After this the v"skin isreversed and the untreated portion of the skin is introduced and withdrawnin a similar manner. f

Only four rows of bristles have been shown on each of the cylindrical brushes but this is simply for the sake of simplifying the patent drawing, and it should be uderstood that any desired number of rows of brush strips may be utilized so long as suiiicient space is left between adjacent rows so that the strips upon the opposing brushes may intermesh. Furthermore, in the illustrated construction the brush strips are disposed in the form of a double-helical or herringbone pattern around the periphery of the brush so as to gain the added advantage of spreading out the skin from its middle portion toward its edges as it is being treated. It wi1l-be found, however, that many of the advantages of the invention may be secured without using this helical arrangement.

The brush II) is constructed upon the periphery of a spider made up of end hubs `46 each having a peripheral ring 48 supported upon radial arms 50 which are set at an angle so as thereby to obtain a fan action as the brush rotates. The end rings of the spider are joined by parallel transverse bars 5I to which may be secured, as by welding thereon, `thin plates 52 spaced to provide might be utilized to make up a cylindricalv brush` of the type shown. As a matter of convenience, in the double-helical, herringbone brush illustrated in the drawings, the plates 52 extend only to the center of the brush. The design of these plates is such that the slots 54 or any other suitable perforations are much larger near the center of the brush than they are at the ends, as is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 where the sections are taken near the center and near an end respectively.

As ajresult, the currents of air sucked in through the ends and thrown out through the bristles by centrifugal force will be equalized along the length of the brush.

In order to adjust the'angular relation ofthe rows of bristles on the two brushes, when setting up the machine or when replacing one of the brushes, provision is made in the brush i2 for angular adjustment of the brush with respect to its shaft. This is accomplished by providing angestll (Fig. 1) at eachend of the brush in which vare threaded bolts 62 extending through slots 64 (Fig. 2) in the face of a pair of flanged collars 66 and 68 which are held onthe shaft 24 by means of setscrews. This makes it possible to adjust the brush I2 around its shaft 24 without disturbing the drive chains, one of which is placed around a sprocket 'lsecured tothe collar 66. This is a, matter which becomes of greater importance asthe number of rows of brush elements is increased. i

During the rotation of the brushes at substantialspeeds, currents of air will be carried along with the peripheries of the brushes and will in a measurev interfere with the action of the air drawn through the entrance 42 and the suction outlet4. Accordingly, curved Vanes or baffles 12 have been positioned between the end plates of the casing members I4 and I6 and have been disposed in such a way close to the periphery of the brush that theair drawn around frictionally by the rotating brush will be reversed and caused to pass out through a series of similar openings such as that between the tail portion 'I4 of one baffle and the curved portion 1.6 of the next baille into the space between the baies and the casing and thence into the suction outlet 40.

As one-half of a skin S is dropped into the entrance opening .42 it will be caught by the brushes and drawn into the casings until stopped vby the operator and pulled backward. During this time the half portion of the skin which is being'treated will be not only brushed in the customary fashion but will also be subjected to the repeated blows of rows of bristles upon opposite i'aces ofthe portion between the brushes, pushing the skin first one way and then the other into the spaces between rowsron the opposite bristles. This will cause the skin to vibrate or flutter and therefore it is subjected to somewhat the same sort of an action as when an operator shakes it inthe open air as hewould a rug. The extent of the beating or fluttering action, whichA is some# what exaggerated in Fig. 2, will be controlled by adjusting the screw 30 without thereby varying the relation between the brush land the adjacent bailies '12. At the same` time the skinrwill be subjected to a blastof air, forced out through the slots 54 by centrifugal action, which will., pass through the bristles radially and impingeupon the surface of the skin substantially normally thereto. Furthermore, the currents of; air car-v ried around by the brushes will be reversed bythe baille plates and caused to travel more readily toward the exhaust outlet 40 so that the size of fan which is required for the suction may be cut down. v

Having thus described vmy invention, whatl claim as new and desire to secure by Letterslatent of theUnitedStates is: Y ,Y i That improvement in methods of cleaning the surfaces of tanned hides and skins which consists in brushing successive areas of thersurfaces of a skin and applying blows alternately to oppo site faces of the skin in substantially those same areas, causing it to utter, and at the Sametime setting up a current of air'directed outwardly through the brush bristlesagainst the surface of the skin being brushed and substantially normal thereto. 2

= RALPH F. KNIGHT. 

